Little Falls - 40.46 miles

Okay - I'm officially exhausted. I've only hit a headwind once before and it was brutal - 20 miles of headwind on the return trip is too much. Plus trail mix just doesn't cut it when my body is screaming "I'm hungry!" Thank goodness I had Easter dinner waiting for me! And I was late! But I did call. Never expected that I would be fighting as hard as I was to get home. The 20 miles to Canajoharie was a piece of cake - seriously. I was averaging 12.5 mph - and I just didn't even think of the tailwind. LOL - that was my mistake. Every time I got to a place I'd look at my odometer and say - "I can make it to the next spot" LOL - I need my head examined. Canajoharie is a big deal for me - it took me months of riding to get there last year...so getting that far on my second ride of the season was awesome to me!
Not sure when my next ride will happen. The Murder Mystery is getting here and we need to practice!
I hope that you all had a wonderful Easter! God is good!

What a wonderful day!

I just love this trail. You can see how half of the canal is still icy - on the left side. The water is fairly high at this portion of the trail - but just beyond here to the east, past Marcy Lock, the water is much lower. The canal isn't open for the season yet.

Stick with me and I'll be posting more about the canal trail and my adventures on it and in other places!

Obstacles on the Canal Trail

There were a lot of these on the trail. The first week of March here was windy - we were supposed to get significant rain but that seemed to head south and east of here (sorry NJ and MA). The wind took out a lot of trees - This one was interesting as I had to push my bike under it. Thank goodness for my helmet as it stopped me from bashing my brains out, I didn't duck enough.

I didn't know how far I would go today - and at the 7 mile mark in Oriskany I figured I'd turn around and just make it a 14 miler. Well I met Mike and Dale there and we started talking. And after about 15 minutes or so they asked if I wanted to go towards Stanwix with them - what the heck right? So I rode with them about another 3 miles and parted ways - I hope that I'll hear from them - Mike's wife rides as well so the three of them could come with me on the eastern portion of the trail.

There had to be about 5 obstacles on the trail - 2 you could ride around and another 3 that you had to climb over or go under...but it made for a fun ride anyway. I need to get in shape because the 100 Miles of Nowhere ride is coming up in May. I'll let you know more about that as it gets closer.

Ice on the Erie Canal

This is the earliest I've ever been on a ride outside. It's March! And usually we have snow, rain, snain, or it's just cold - not the case this year. It has been gorgeous, warm (50's and 60's) and most of the snow is gone. So I decided earlier this week that if Saturday was as nice as it's been I was going to ride. And so I did!

I started out late - about 12:45pm. I gave blood this morning so wanted to get enough fluids and food in me so I didn't pass out while riding. The first mile saw me laughing to myself - what a difference between riding inside and outside. The wind, the birds, the water, the people - boy did I miss that!

Whenever I come up on a person I usually warn them by calling out "Behind you" - well for some reason I didn't call out to this one lady - there was another bicyclist coming towards me, she had earbuds in and so I just went by her - but she turned to look at the same time and I think that she jumped a foot. I stopped to apologize and we talked for a few minutes. She moved here from Maui! - yep that's what I said - Maui! She was born and raised here and left for quite a few years and came back. There are a lot of us like that - Upstate NY is wonderful!

Please Read on....

Activities

My boss asked me to be 'Captain' of our heart walk team this year - the sad thing is that it's just the two of us participating. I can't seem to push my co-workers to participate - but I'll try to get their money. But I'm making it a point to push myself. I've signed up for the five mile walk - and to make sure that I could do it, I walked 4.8 today and other than being cold I did okay. So - if you would like to donate to help me out - the site is Utica's Greatest Heart Run and Walk.

Another thing that I'm doing is signing up for bike rides. I've done the Tour de Cure before - that is a heck of a story. I hadn't been on a bike in more than a year, signed up for the Tour de Cure 15 mile ride and somehow managed to make it - on a mountain bike - whining the whole way. This year I've been riding my bike in the house and staying more in shape than I had been back then, so I signed up for the 40 mile ride. The Tour de Cure is for Diabetes research and education and I'm asking for donations for that as well.

There is also a ride on the canal trail from July 11-18th - starts in Buffalo and ends in Albany. I don't think I'll make it this year but what an awesome ride! They also have shorter versions on the beginning and ending weekends, I may be able to do the second weekend.

If there are any local rides out there that you may have heard of let me know, please? And I'll be checking out Active.com - (thanks Mel) where there are all kinds of rides, runs, walks, etc taking place in the US.

Dreaming of being on Team CarboRocket

I enjoy reading Elden Nelson's blog very much - I've mentioned it here before. It's the FatCyclist Blog, Elden has shared much laughter, heartache and love in his blog and it's a treat to read his stories. Well on Friday I read the following on his website - and I wrote my email to Brad at CarboRocket...I want to be on Team CarboRocket - really bad!

Team CarboRocket is looking for a few good, ordinary folks who are on the verge of doing something extraordinary. You may not even know what that extraordinary thing is yet, but you can feel it burning inside of you. Hopefully, you already enjoy cycling, be it on the road or mountain.

Team membership is open to anyone who’s interested in doing something big. You may be a total novice or a seasoned veteran, we care not. What we do care about is that — whatever your extraordinary goal may be — there is an enormous gap between where you are now and achieving that goal. Maybe you are overweight. Maybe you have never ridden even a tenth the distance you’re hoping to ride. Maybe you’re missing a limb or two. Whatever hurdle you have to reaching your goal should make you dig very deep.

If this isn’t clear here’s an example: You are currently an expert level mountain biker with a resume stacked with impressive finishes and maybe even some sponsors and you want to finish the Leadville 100 mountain bike race because you’ve never done it. Sorry, not digging deep enough, no need to apply.

If, however, you’re a sport-level mountain biker and you’ve been thinking that the Great Divide Race is a little bit too short and you think it’s about time somebody rides from Canada to Mexico and then back, well yeah. We’d like to hear more.

What’s in it for you? You will be supported and sponsored by none other than Ibis Cycles in conjunction with Bingham Cyclery, CarboRocket sports drink, Ritchey components and the ever humble FatCyclist.com. We can’t divulge exactly what awesome deals and swag you will be getting from each of these sponsors because we are still trying to figure out what Fatty is contributing. Maybe he’ll publish your stories. Maybe he’ll give you his super-secret recipe for quiche. It’s hard to say for sure. But we will say that you will like being sponsored by us. A lot.

What’s in it for us? We love a good story and we want to follow yours, from ordinary to extraordinary. We will be there when you fall down, first, to laugh at you and then give you a hand up, a dusting off and a gentle push onward. You will keep us apprised of your progress and ultimately your attempt at completing your extraordinary goal by updating your story at regular intervals on the team blog.

We want at least half the team to be women and total team members to be 10. We don’t want your entire story just yet, only 150 words or less. You need to tell us a compelling snippet of your story including who you are, what extraordinary thing it is you want to accomplish and why it will be so challenging. Email your 150 words to Brad@carborocket.com. The sponsors will then pick 10 people with the most compelling stories to make up the Team.

And then we’ll come up with a cool secret handshake or something. We look forward to hearing your outrageously cool idea. Oh yeah, there is a one week deadline for consideration. You have until February 19, Midnight to submit your snippet.

Love,

Team CarboRocket

I so much want to travel the entire Erie Canal Trail - all 400 +/- miles of it this summer - and what would be even better is if I had a Team to prod me along, to coach me, to push me, to encourage me. So I applied. And now I wait. I did get a trainer for my bike - it's in the front room upstairs - I ride and watch TV and pray that the spring will be a mild one so I can ride the trail and not have to wait to long. It took me awhile to hit that 62 miles last year - I don't want to take that long this time. I'm taking the bull by the horns and trying to get my butt and legs ready. I've also started doing the Biggest Loser Boot Camp workout - I figure that can't hurt either. We'll see.

Think good thoughts for me! I really want to be on Team CarboRocket!

62 miles = Metric Century *Updated

I can't believe I did it! I'll write more later. Need a shower NOW!

It's been 24 hours since I finished and I am exhausted. I don't hurt as much as I thought, but I was working out in the sun earlier and realized it was just way too hot. I forgot the sunscreen and my chin and nose are burnt!

I've found some new places that I want to explore - hiking may be my next avenue of adventure. Any takers? Jill Homer has been quite an inspiration to me and when I ride I always think of her and the things she has accomplished, tried and enjoyed.

Canajoharie *Updated

This is Canajoharie Academy. Susan B. Anthony taught at the here in 1846, where she rose to become headmistress of the Female Department. From what I was told by a very nice lady at the Visitors center in Canajoharie. The Academy property was purchased about 3 or four years ago and the man who purchased it had to agree not to tear it down. The problem is that he completely gutted it, removing windows and everything. This past year he purchased a couple of houses to the left of the building (well, left in the picture) and tore them down and that property is getting cleaned up. Who knows what he's doing, but I hope it's something good. It's a beautiful building - my picture doesn't do it justice.

20 miles down!

I love NY!

Yesterday was the first time in a month that I've been able to go for a long bike ride. The plan was to start in Little Falls and go till I was 1/2 tired and turn around. :) Then on Thursday my friend, Shibu, messaged me via facebook and we started talking about riding and I invited him to join me.

Saturday morning - I was up bright and early. Packed up the peanut butter rounds sandwiches (if you've never tried Arnold's whole grain rounds, you are missing out), did a small bag of mixed nuts, and a couple of packages of Black Cherry Shot Bloks with caffeine. Oh, and 3 bottles of water. I put my bike rack on my car and then loaded up everything else. I was in Little Falls at 7:30 - Shibu got there a lot a-bit later - but honestly it was perfect. I brought a book with me - watched the fog dissipate off the canal and just relaxed. Shibu got there - we got our bikes set up - checked air and headed out.

It was absolutely beautiful. Stunning. Perfect. I love the Canal Trails. The Birds. The Blue skies. God couldn't have given us a more perfect biking day. We rode till we got to a creek area - don't know the name of it right now. We stopped for a little sustenance and water. Then we got on our bikes again. We had a little problem in Mindenville - a small part of the trail is closed because they repaved it and I didn't read the sign right and we ended up down by the canal. But the man who works on the canal was wonderful and explained that the trail was just to the left of the entrance for the canal - so we continued on. I was excited about maybe, just maybe, making it to St. Johnsville. For not having been on my bike in a month I was feeling great. Even my bum was dealing. Well - we made it to St. Johnsville (I didn't even see the sign - had no clue) and kept going. We talked about going to 15 miles and turning around. It would be the farthest either of us had gone. So at 15 miles we stopped. We looked around and I kept hearing running water. I think we both really wanted to keep going so we 'looked' for the sound of the running water - for another 2 miles and made it into Fort Plain! Woo Hoo!

We turned around when we hit the Main street - right across from Save-a-lot market. I slowed down on Shibu for a little while but got my second wind. We met a couple about 2 miles from the Herkimer Home that had bikes loaded down with bags on front and back wheels and on the handle bars - they were on a long ride! They asked us which way to go - there are a couple of places on the canal trail where you can take a trail down to the canal - but you wouldn't know that unless you were familiar with the area. I told them to continue on - warned them about Mindenville detour and there is an area where Herkimer and Montgomery Counties meet where the stone dust trail is really deep and loose. My back tire kept kicking out - and I kept squealing like a little girl! It was fun! But back to the couple. They also asked about a place to sleep - I figured that Fort Plain would have the best place - or Canojaharie. This is the best part - they were going from Buffalo to Albany - meeting with the rest of their bike group and then go to NYC - by bike! I really need to find a group like that and start doing stuff like that!

Shibu and I had perfect weather - sunshine, cool breeze, bright clear skies and a beautiful, safe trail. The canal trail is something to enjoy and share! Please go and see what I am talking about!

100 Miles of Nowhere!

Fatty - aka the Fat Cyclist, aka Elden started this and by golly he got a lot of takers. To raise money for cancer research - through the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Elden is constantly coming up with ways to raise money.

I immediately sent in my money for 100 Miles of Nowhere - Please read this and then read what people have been doing all over the world! I have only been on one ride this year - for a whopping 5.5 miles - I am not in shape for a big ride, I've been walking and making sure to work the hills too. I really had a very hard time figuring out what to do. Some people do their miles on rollers and never leave their homes, others did it in parks where there was a circular path ( a couple of guys in England did 90+ laps around a circle), another guy did it in his cul-de-sac. I finally decided that I had to break the 'rules' and actually go somewhere where I could go somewhere - not 'nowhere'.

First thing this morning (6:45) I put my rack on my car. Then as I was shivering I told myself I was nuts and went back inside. I did finally leave at 8:30 after a cup of coffee, reading the paper and making some peanut butter sandwiches to keep me going. I drove down to the Canalway Trail entrance on Genesee Street - near where the old Kittie's on the Canal was (can't remember the name of it now!). Anyway - I managed to ride all the way to Stanwix. 27.73 miles round trip. So while I didn't do 100 miles - I did something I have never done before. 27.73 miles AND I got to talk to the Canal guy in Marcy and watch 3 boats go through the locks AND I met Jim on the trail about 2 miles from Stanwix - he was an angel - he kept me moving, gave me great advice and made me feel good about what I had done so far.


Going into the lock at 404 feet above sea level. Marcy Lock is the highest point on the Erie Canal System.


The gate is shut when the boat goes into the lock, then the water fills in the lock with a gravitational pump system. The water level goes up from 404 feet to 420 feet above sea level in order to then open the upper gates.


Then the boat can let go of the ropes on the side that help it stay steady and move ahead when the gates are completely open. This whole thing only takes about 15 minutes - and that is with one of the pumps working with only 1/3 of it's power.



Almost done with my ride!!!!!!!!! My butt hurts! LOL!

20 Miles on the Erie Canal

Victory at 10 miles! I love this picture - it was too bright out for us to see how well it turned out!

I don't think that I would have done this on my own. A friend - who I knew way back in 7th and 8th grade, emailed me about the blog and we kept talking about stuff we're going through in life. Somehow it ended up that he and I were going to ride together. LOL - it took us awhile - his bike needed emergency tire surgery and timing was off, but yesterday we did it. And he can ride like the wind! At least compared to me! :)

My average speed is about 9.5 mph when all is said and done - I tend to dawdle when looking for a good picture. Well yesterday our average speed was about 11.5! But we did it! I did tell him that I would be saying mean things about him today - I figured I'd be in pain - but thank goodness I am not. I've got the typical soreness -but nothing special.

He took the bugs for me too on our way out - LOL but he wasn't so kind on the way back! :)~~~
We were both spitting and sputtering. We are going to ride together again - there were three people older than us on the trail that kicked my butt - my friend probably could have gone faster were it not for me.

15 Miles on the Erie Canal

LOL - well it's true. I road 15 miles on the Erie Canal trail from Utica to Oriskany and back again. It was a lot of fun, but very BUGGY! LOL - the bugs were swarms between Marcy and Oriskany and it was Gross! But I am so glad that I went. I got some pics too!
This tree was just too cool - it was so stark in contrast to the rest of the Marsh and canal area. Plus I have a thing for clouds and the sky.

This was wicked funny! I took this picture then saw the people fishing - I almost yelped. They weren't there on my way through 20 minutes prior.

This bridge is cool - there is a water fall below it (man-made) but the bridge is wooden, so it kind of sings when you go over it.

Lot and lots of space for birds and wildlife - of course we have made our mark with the powerlines.
The Marcy Lock - There are a lot of concerts here in the summer time. The park was full - lot of family picnics - I saw volleyball being played and people fishing and relaxing.